The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics

by David Kendall (Editor)

These zombies just won’t die. Here is the first ever popular collection of zombie comics and short graphic stories. Full of spooky and well-crafted tales from beyond the grave, this collection will appeal to readers of graphic novels, comic books, and followers of the undead. With stories from Vincent Locke, Steve Niles, Hideshi Hino, Joe Lansdale, and many others, this collection will be sure to frighten and entertain even the most undead of readers.

Genres: Zombies, Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories

564 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2008

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. Some stories are better than others, but this does represent the various takes on the genre well. Some were horrific, some were humorous. The two gems were DEAD EYES OPEN, which was the longest story in the volume and was a realistic take on zombies. It was a kind of a cross between TV shows "The Walking Dead" and "Resurrection." My personal favorite was PIGEONS FROM HELL, which was an adaptation of the Robert E. Howard story with painted art from Scott Hampton. There was a two part ZOMBIE WORLD story which was good as well. The others ranged from really good to OK, I didn't really read anything I totally hated. Some of the shorter ones were really good actually.

I would recommend this one to any fans of zombie comics, or horror comics in general. If you are a die hard zombie fan, you'll probably like it even if you aren't really into comics.

[TK421 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a whole lot of mindless (sorry!) fun!! Plus, the story "Dead Eyes Open" presents a perspective not often seen in this genre of humanity through the eyes of the zekes.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I rarely do this, but I feel the need to examine these stories individually before I comment on the book as a whole. Pay attention:

Making Amends - 8 pages - solid, but nothing amazing.

Pariah - 5 pages - kind of cute, but not really the reason I read zombie comics. This would have fit perfectly in a different collection, and been quite enjoyable.

In Sickness - 8 pages - subtle, sneak-up-on-you stuff. Quite good.

Necrotic - 64 pages (!) - here is where the trouble really starts. This is the second longest story, and it suffers from some severe problems. First, there's no zombies in this story, so it's inclusion seems a little weird. I mean, there's a mummy...sort of. There's really just a guy who figures out how to get mummy powers, or something. I don't know. But it shouldn't have been in this book. Second, near the finale, the pages are significantly OUT OF ORDER. And I don't mean they're irreverent or that they interrupt, I mean you can't figure out wtf is going on, because they're LITERALLY out of order. In case you can get past those two problems, there's another significant problem, which is that this story is just terrible. Lame in every way--totally mediocre art, and written by what I can only assume is a 9th grader. Why is this in this book? (And notice it's one of the long ones--that bumps up the page count. We gotta be "Mammoth," you know.)

The Immortals - 6 pages - This one is good, but if you read much, you've probably seen it in a Negative Burn anthology.

Flight From Earth - 12 pages - pretty juvenile all around.

Amy - 16 pages - There are zombies here, but there's also some sort of ghost (or maybe a will-o-wisp...some glowy ball, anyway.) I could never figure out what really happened in this one, so....meh.

Black Sabbath - 8 pages - dumb.

MAZH - 10 pages - The editor apparently decided this story should be called MASH, even though it's clearly MAZH in the comic itself. I can't figure that out; single-letter-momentary-dyslexia, maybe? Japanese-style art, which I don't like (although some people do.) But is there a zombie in this story? I see a Frankenstein-type character, but no zombie.. There is a panel where...something happens...maybe that person is a zombie?

Dead Eyes Open - 142 pages - This story basically saves this book from being 1 star. This is a very non-classical zombie story, where the zombies retain their memories when they turn. It's an exploration of the societal changes which would occur in such a situation. This story I would give a 4/5. It's not perfect, but it is very interesting. It seems like manna from heaven compared to most of the garbage in this book.

Might of the Living Dead - 6 pages - A funny look at the history and significance of zombies. The phrase "amphetamine-fuelled long distance runners" will enter my vocabulary.

Job Satisfaction - 4 pages - A vignette. Not bad, but doesn't really offer anything.

The Corpse / The Haunted Ship / The Zombie - All by the same artist. These all have that folk tale feel, like a sort of unsatisfactory ending and some weird twists. I didn't love any of them, but I enjoyed them all.

Pigeons From Hell - 51 pages - Apparently based on some classic horror story (which I will soon read), this was the creepiest thing in the book, but suffers from two main problems: the wordless storytelling made it impossible to tell exactly what happens. My wife and I both read it twice, and couldn't quite make sense of it. Also, I don't know how the original looks, but this printing is dark to the point of eyestrain. It looks good, but a bit more contrast would have been nice. Also, is there a zombie in this story?

Zombie World: Dead End - 44 pages - A nice horror / zombie story that goes somewhere unexpected. I liked this one.

"Zombies" - 6 pages - 5/5. This is pretty much what every short piece in this book should have been. Solid art, a nice theme, and solidly creepy.


So here's the summary. If I were picking zombie stories for inclusion in an anthology of "zombie comics," 4 of these stories would have been excluded because they don't (or don't obviously) have zombies in them, and really only 8 of the 18 would have been even in the running, on quality grounds. Probably 3 would have made it. An incredible amount of material in this book is just bad or irrelevant.

Also, note: The first half of the book mostly sucks. The good stuff is near the end. Why in the world would the editor order things that way? Shouldn't you put the good stuff in the front?

[Jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zombie comics + pizza = pefect sunday night

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a big compilation of zombie themed comics - as such its quality varies. I was utterly unimpressed with the collections at the mid-point, but the second half picked up, and the book earns its third start solely on the long-form, 140+ page Dead Eyes Open, which is definitely the highlight of the collection with its wide-ranging look at the impact of rational zombies as a new minority and their impact on the culture of the US (and featuring some surprising but well-chosen cameos). The other long-form story, Necrotic, wasn't nearly as enjoyable, and doesn't really fit the theme of the book as it focuses on a mummy rather than zombies.
Some of the shorter stories are okay, with Pigeons From Hell notable for its impressive artwork, although it's in service to a story that I found incomprehensible (it's presented without any dialog, and the art was poorly reproduced in black and white to the point some of it is near illegible - it's still impressive art, just not well represented here).
Some of the other stories are decent but just as many are utterly forgettable. The black and white format doesn't do many of the stories any favors, either.
If you're looking for a wide variety of Zombie stories, this will serve. But these are not the best of the best when it comes to Zombies in comics - just pick up Walking Dead if you're looking for that.

[Adam Cleaver · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing really to say. Nothing ground breaking in here. Just a bunch of short zombie comic strips. If you like walking dead, then you've already read the best zombies comic. You can give this one a miss.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, not brilliant, some of the short stories are entertaining.

[Angel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick impressions: Overall, the volume was OK. Fans of the zombie genre may enjoy it. I'd consider it an optional selection for libraries.

(Review on my blog soon.)

[Shaun Phelps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Some good ones. A lot of trope.

[Doug Bolden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book on my shelf for a bit, having bought back in my working-in-a-bookstore days, and finally decided to read it. I burned out on zombies, more or less, about the time I had purchased it, and it's kind of neat to think that this was put together at the very end of the zombie bubble that started up with the Resident Evil movie adaptation and the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake. I was mistaken in that I thought it was a collection of zombie-like tales all the way back to the EC days. There are some from the 80s, but most are from the the 2004-2008 era. Art styles differ, but story styles tend to either be 1) humorous, 2) zombies-as-traumatic-metaphor, or 3) zombies-as-humanitarian-metaphor. There are a couple that are kick-zombie-ass stories, too, but generally these are the low notes.

Sticking with the low notes, there are some editorial problems. "Necrotic", which is about a mummy rather than a zombie, could have worked despite its somewhat melodramatic and longer-than-it-should-be story, but is crippled at a central junction in plot with pages all sorts of out of order [and this could be on purpose, but I see no indication that they are meant to be in this order for any reason but an accident]. What should have been a high point, "Pigeons from Hell", is marred by a really dark copy that makes it hard to appreciate the art-speaking-for-itself. AND, the color version had text boxes explaining the action and story (see Horror Comics review of it), so unless this is meant to be some original-artistic-vision, this is the largest oversight in the book.

And there are little things like the story "M.A.Z.H", which is so-so fluff, being written as "M.A.S.H." in all the descriptions and some bits from Deadworld being given out of context, though at least "Black Sabbath" works alright standalone while "Amy" suggests that the reader is missing most of the story.

The absolute high-note is "Dead Eyes Open", a complete story that takes up about 1/3 of the book and deals with the American response to people coming back from the dead with all their memories intact. A returned psychologist deals first hand with the dual horror of being the walking dead and watching as people reenact several of humanity's lowest moments trying to deal with them - internment camps, death squads, third-class citizenship, mob violence. It is well paced and decent characters and a fairly unique art style. It is generally worth most of the price of the book.

Others that are in the high water mark are the comical "Dead End", a slightly longer story about zombies coming back on Halloween (I think, they also mention New Year's Eve) as a woman dressed as an angel tries to survive in an old country estate, with a clever twist; "Immortals", a short and punchy story with a bit of humor; and "Zombies", "Pariah", and "In Sickness", all three of which are short and as much about shared humanity as a zombie infestation. "Might of the Living Dead" also fits here, though it is more about zombies and zombie comics. Still, funny and cleverly drawn.

The rest probably get the "ok" mark. There are a trio of folk tales that are neat-enough, and have some interesting art. "Making Amends" is short and EC punchy, about a killer youth who is really sorry, and I liked it. "Job Satisfaction" is an interesting thought experiment about the sort of people who do well in a zombie outbreak. "Flight from Earth" and "M.A.Z.H" are middlin' and I didn't really like them, but may be higher points for those who like SF-action zombies over plot.

Recommended for "Dead Eyes Open", especially if you can get it used or cheaper. If you really like zombies, those mentioned in the "other high marks" paragraph will pull it up to being worth its cash. Had a little more editorial care been given, and possibly had a few stories been taken out and others put in its place to give it a better overview of the field, it would have likely have been worth even more.

[Jake Hainey · Rating 3 out of 5]

For more reviews, check out my blog: talesfromideath.blospot.com

I’ve got to admit, I’m getting pretty sick of zombies, surely I can’t be the only one? In recent years the undead hoards have seen a huge resurgence, thanks primarily to comics and shows like The Walking Dead and games like Left for Dead. It’s got to the point where they’re pretty much inescapable. They’re on TV, in Movies and games, comics, novels, toys…aprons….they’re everywhere….

Despite my growing disinterest in the Zombie genre however, I decided to pick this book up. Mainly because it showcases a lot of writers and artists whose work I’m unfamiliar with and I fancied something new.

The problem with this book is one you’ll probably see coming. It’s an omnibus, there are eighteen stories in here of various lengths all with different creators. There’s going to be some you like and some you don’t. Personally I found the balance to be pretty even, maybe tipping slightly toward stories I didn’t like, but every reader of this book is going to have a completely different experience.

In the case of most of the stories I didn’t like, the length was a major factor. Some stories come in at five or six pages and it’s just not enough space to tell any engaging stories. They feel like sections cut out of larger narratives and there’s no depth to the storytelling. The short strips basically contain the message “zombies are scary and will eat you”, there’s nothing more beneath the surface, they’re not saying anything.

Thankfully though there are some stories with a little more meat on their bones. Pariah by Jon Ayre & One Neck and Zombies by Kieron Gillen & Andy Boor, are both short stories dealing with lone survivors of the apocalypse and the methods they employ to survive, Zombies especially has a very dark ending that I won’t spoil for you, but it’s worth seeking out.

The main attraction in the book for me was Dead Eyes Open by Matthew Shepherd & Roy Boney Jr, a two hundred page story, a complete graphic novel in itself, that offers a unique take on the Zombie apocalypse. Shepherd’s zombies retain their memories and mental faculties. They’re the same person they were when they were alive, they’re just..well…dead… The story sees the zombies (called returners) rounded up into camps by the government and turns the gory zombie genre into social commentary dealing with civil rights and prejudice. It’s a fantastic story and, if you’re considering buying this book, is worth the price of admission itself.

Whatever you’re tastes, you’ll find something here you like (well…as long as your tastes include zombies), from short gory tales like Black Sabbath (Stuart Kerr & Vincent Locke), Character driven pieces, Job Satisfaction (Gary Crutchley) or even zombies in space, Flight from Earth (Oleg Kozyrev & Roman Surzhenko).
I doubt many will enjoy every story collected here, but it’s a decent variety that will keep you entertained. If you’re not sick to death yet of zombies, this one’s definitly worth picking up.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics is a compilation of zombie comics by different authors, some of which (the comics I mean) have previously been published elsewhere.
The comics vary significantly in length and quality, with the shortest clocking it at just five pages.

Making Amends by Steve Niles and Josh Medors(9 pages)
Pariah by Jon Ayre and Iain Laurie (6 pages)
In Sickness by Jon Ayre and Stephen Hill (6 pages)
Necrotic: Dead Flesh on a Living Body by Buddy Scalera, M. Swank, and Pat Quinn (35 pages)
The Immortals by Darko Mecan and Edvin Biukovoc (7 pages)
Flight from Earth by Oleg Kozyrev and Roman Surzhenko (13 pages)
Amy by Mark Bloodworth, Paul Daly, and Vincent Locke (17 pages)
Black Sabbath by Stuart Kerr and Vincent Locke (9 pages)
M*A*Z*H by Andrew Davies and Laura Watton (11 pages)
Dead Eyes Open by Matthew Shepherd and Roy Boney Jr (143 pages)
Might of the Living Dead by Indio (7 pages)
Job Satisfaction by Gary Crutchley (5 pages)
The Corpse by Askold Akishin (9 pages)
The Haunted Ship by Askold Akishin (16 pages)
The Zombie by Askold Akishin (13 pages)
Pigeons From Hell by Robert E Howard adapted by Scott Hampton (54 pages)
Zombie World: Dead End by Stephen Blue (45 pages)
"Zombies" by Kieron Gillen and Andy Bloor (7 pages)

A few were of particular note; Pariah plays with the lonliness of outbreak survival.In Sickness which plays with the fear of "Would I know if I was turning?" Dead Eyes Open is a fantastic little story based on the idea of the undead that come back retaining their intelligence and personality, and whether they can ever be accepted into society. Might of the Living Dead is a good introduction to zombies, providing a very brief outline into some common outbreak causes and lamenting the lack of recognition in books and films of their greatest weapon: smell. Finally "Zombies" asks "How far would you go to survive? How much of yourself would you sacrifice?"

All in all a good collection, but not excellent. Of course it is hard to write a good zombie comic in so few pages, which is why it is the ones with interesting twists or different angles that stand out.

[Dustin Reade · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay, jeez, where to start? First off, let me say there was a LOT of awesome material in this book. In particular, I enjoyed "Dead Eyes Open" and "In Sickness". While I single these two stories out, they shine as examples of how awesome the book is as a whole, and not as my two favorite comics in the collection. Almost all of the stories in the book kick some royal zombie ass.
THat said, there are a few stories that are hardly "zombie" comics.
For instance, "NECROTIC: Dead Flesh On A Living Body" is NOT a zombie story, it is a MUMMY story. While some might say that mummies are technically zombies, and I would agree in some cases, the same cannot be said of this story, in which the mummy is actually ALIVe throughout long stretches of time, and only his flesh becomes dead, and even that only occasionally.
Also, "Pigeons From Hell" was either completely brilliant, or completely nonsensical, I can't decide which.
There were a few stories that absolutely did not work for me. Stories that seemed unfinished, like "The Haunted Ship", and stories that were just too short and, well, stupid, like "The Corpse". And it is because these stories were SO BAD that I took away a star. I mean, they are REALLY BAD. THere was no reason for them to be included in this collection, as "The Corpse" almost seems like more of a vampire story than a zombie one, and "the haunted ship" only has zombies on the last panel.
Though, "Dead Eyes OPen" "Zombie World: Dead End" and "Zombies" more than make up for the crappier stories in the collection, and I feel confident reccomending the book to anyone interested in zombie comics for those stories alone.

[Joshlynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This "greatest gathering of the undead" fails in several respects.

1. The black and white format. Several of these stories rely heavily on color to set their mood, specifically Necrotic and Pigeons from Hell.

2. The inclusion of stupid shit, most of which was only there to shamelessly bulk up the page count. Some of these pieces were barely even of amateur quality. Necrotic, while a decent comic overall despite its mediocre writing and kind-of-decent art, is not really about a zombie. The argument given for its inclusion doesn't hold up. While I'm on that track...

3. SERIOUS PRINTING ERRORS. The Necrotic story has a nearly ten-page stretch where the pages are completely out of order. I had to fucking renumber them by hand. As for Pigeons from Hell, a lot of the complaints here were on it being difficult to understand because it's wordless. Well, I ordered a copy of the original publication, and guess what? IT HAS WORDS. This stupid miserable FUCK of an editor printed a version of the comic without a script! Once I found that out, it was all I could do not to give this doorstop one star.

However, there are some saving graces. The full graphic novel Dead Eyes Open is excellent, thoughtful, and modern. That juxtaposed against the gorgeous rendering of folk tales by obscure artist Arnold Akishin and many of the shorter pieces (most of which haven't been reprinted anywhere else as far as I know) keep this collection from being a total waste. But overall, David Kendall did a pathetic job.

[Swamy Atul · Rating 3 out of 5]

At 143 pages, "Dead Eyes Open" is the star of this collection. The longer length of the story allows for better character development. And boy do we have characters! There's a zombie psychologist who is the face of the struggle for the returners' human rights. A zombie lawyer who cannot give up arguing even after he is shot in the chest. A zombie blogger/TV star who brings media attention to the struggle. But my favorite is the right wing attention-whore Taylor who leads the extremist resurgence. And then there's a conspiracy to top it off. Fun Fun Fun!
"In Sickness" is one of the better written stories. You may be able to predict the ending if you have see the "New Year's Day" episode of that scary TV series Fear Itself.
I slept after reading the Mummy's love story "Necrotic" and then dreamt that my face has gone purple right before I'm supposed to meet my girlfriend. Talk about books creeping into your nightmares!
I chuckled at the pop culture references in "Might of the Living Dead"
The 6-page long "Zombies" is awesome in 6 million kind of ways.
"Pigeons From Hell" is confusing unless you have seen Boris Karloff's TV version. The other stories are meh.

[Josh LaFollette · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a little hard to review this book as a whole, given that it contains 18 separate stories, but I'll try. Thankfully, there's a lot of variety, with 1950s horror comic throwbacks, adaptations of old folk tales, some supernatural horror, and a bit of science fiction. The stories also vary in length quite a bit, from several haunting vignettes to a few more expansive, lengthy stories. The definite highlight for me is the longest story in the collection, "Dead Eyes Open," which tells the story of sentient zombies confronting persecution, some peacefully and some violently, while the society struggles to deal with the return of the dead. "Pigeons from Hell" is also pretty great, with some of the best art in the book and a creepy, gothic atmosphere. Most of the short stories are decent, and a few of them linger on the mind even after they're over. Admittedly, there is some filler in this book, particularly the stories "Flight from Earth" and "M*A*Z*H*," which seem really out of place surrounded by much better stories. Overall, there's some really creative stuff in here, and it proves to be a pretty quick read despite its size.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent collection of zombie comics. Mostly the shorts please most. Where this book fails is it strays hopelessly away from topic several times. But surely it is allowed to include a few stories that fall shy of the target. I agree but not when they are the longest stories on offer. Necrotic is the longest single part story in the book and has no zombies. It does have a guy who gets to prolong his life by glitching an Egyptian curse. No zombies though. And then there is the inclusion of Dead Eyes Open. Good zombie series but like Necrotic it has already been published as a graphic novel in its own right. Including an entire run of a series in an anthology just seems wrong. So that's over a third of the book taken up by zombieless stories and Dead Eyes Open. Stick to topic next time guys and no padding out with other graphic novels.

[Not Now...Mommy's Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of zombie comics. Most of the stories really delivered with maybe one or two that could be classified as "meh". Various takes on the zombie tale ranging from zombies in space to zombie myths and legends to tales told from the zombies point of view.

A great addition to my zombie collection that did not disappoint.

[Holden Attradies · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, this was just on the verge of simply not being worth a read at all. I know anthologies are normally pretty hit and miss and this one is mostly miss. If not for the awesome quality of the few hits this would be a total one star.

My suggestion: don't pick it up unless you REALLY like zombies and even then only if you can find it cheap.

[Mika · Rating 2 out of 5]

A diversity of short graphic illustrations of zombie stories. Some where chaotic, dreadful, satisfying and some I would have loved to read as longer stories in text. There is a lot of potential. I have always struggled with comics rounded up in collections. 2-3 stars would conclude this in a fair judgment I guess.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it a 3 star due to some of the comics where really entertaining however some where less so. Defiantly worth the read for a few of the comics.

The comics about zombies, being zombies, killing zombies, etc. Good horror stories to read before going to bed.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid collection of zombie stories with different takes on the genre.
Some were excellent and others less so. My biggest issue is a few of them had font issues so reading the dialogue was a struggle. If you are a zombie fan or if you like horror comic this might be worth a read.

[Iroquois · Rating 4 out of 5]

funny

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some real winners and some duds, but overall an enjoyable read. If you can get it on the bargain racks, it is a steal.

[library for cryptids]

Hit and miss. The comics that were good were really good, but the ones that were bad were oh so bad.

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a whole, this was great fun. Art was good. The stories were good. What more can you ask for?

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection of comics starring the Undead. Pigeons from Hell was the best one.